Soundgarden, the shaggy quartet that, along with Nirvana and Pearl Jam, came to form an unholy trinity of heavy Seattle rock in the '90s, always was an intense force at any scope, more psychedelically sludgy and cranium-crushing than any of its peers from that flannel-wrapped era.

Yet you can't fathom just how astonishingly powerful the group can be until you've experienced their unleashed attack in a small space. Of course, that hasn't been such an easy thing to come by, then or now: the band outgrew club gigs once 1994's breakthrough behemoth Superunknown launched a series of indelible singles (with “Black Hole Sun” making them MTV stars) and Soundgarden leapt from being an opening act for Guns N' Roses to an arena-filling festival headliner.

And with the better part of 15 years passing between their bled-dry break-up in early '97 and their unexpected and uncompromising return to action recently, demand to see them mounted so high that nothing less than a Forum sell-out would suffice. Thus, Tuesday night's lengthy, often tremendous Fonda Theatre performance in Hollywood – one of only three North American shows this month to usher in their long-awaited and very strong sixth album, King Animal – was a rarity along the lines of their hometown reunion at the Showbox in April 2010.

“This place is tiny,” frontman Chris Cornell remarked during his second haranguing of blasé record-exec types littering the room and sitting stone-faced in the balcony. “How did you get tickets to this? I couldn't get 'em.”

Neither could staunch fans without connections, as the venue's capacity meant only a few hundred lucky ones would score access. Unless you were right up front for either the Forum blast last year or the Weenie Roast surprise that followed soon after, you've likely not stood so close to such a radiating source of sonic darkness.

At times, if you were in the thick of the pit, it felt as in-your-face intimate as that in-studio clip for “Fell on Black Days” from years ago, the band in classic pose relatively huddled on a less-sprawling stage with nothing to do but zero in on every piece, tightening screws at every turn. From that vantage point their innate chemistry could be dissected and examined until it was as bare-bones as the sound of 50th birthday boy Matt Cameron's thunderous drumming. Like Cornell's high-pitched, all-throat wailing, that pummeling had a palpable presence inside the Fonda that transcended any amplification.

[caption id="attachment_100584" align="alignnone" width="580"] Soundgarden roars through 'Jesus Christ Pose' at the Fonda in Hollywood. Photo: David Hall, for the Register.[/caption]

Hyperbole comes easy when you're shell-shocked from an eardrum bludgeoning. But there were moments amid this nearly 2½-hour set – the cathartic cries of “Outshined” and the pile-driving “Rusty Cage,” the oddly-paced explosiveness of “Gun” and “My Wave,” the heavily massed choruses of “Blow Up the Outside World” and “Burden in My Hand” – when it felt like we were watching these offspring of Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin soar straight into the sun, as if channeling not just their former glory but the whole primal life force of metal.

I can still feel the thrashed-out reverberations. No one downstairs seemed unscathed by it. The outpouring of excited support this night was like I've only seen for a few other '90s-launched giants who have stopped here for special occasions: Radiohead, Pearl Jam, Green Day.

“You should be folding your arms like an industry audience,” Cornell commented, like the one the earliest version of Soundgarden (before bassist Ben Shepherd joined) first played here in the late '80s. That crowd, he said, could do nothing but “pretend that the truth (was) not happening … that you don't have any f***ing idea what you're looking at or hearing. That industry that we confronted in 1987 or whatever it was is dead now. That's what that smell is.” (Later in the set, he thought he spotted such villainous reptiles upstairs: “Is that the industry up there? Pathetic. Stand up!”)

It's heartening, then, to see Soundgarden return entirely on its own terms and with new music worthy of its legacy. What was just as impressive as the old material this night was how much the new stuff felt like it had always been in the catalog.

Logically there was a ton of it on offer, 10 of its 13 tracks in all, including the sinisterly sexy “Taree” and complexities like “Non-State Actor” and “By Crooked Steps,” each one finding Cornell's voice gaining wallop to match its bewitching menace. Their formative and classic albums, on the other hand, were treated selectively: debut disc Ultramega OK (1988) provided two grinders from emotionless but mood-enhancing lead guitarist Kim Thayil, along with three key cuts from Louder Than Love (1989), the first four from Badmotorfinger (1991) the usual quartet of monsters from Superunknown and two chief singles from Down on the Upside (1996).

All of it came across unified, landing with the devastating impact of a tsunami. Soundgarden is now beyond the point of having anything to prove; last year's dust-off tour brushed away any fears that they wouldn't be as mighty as ever. Now, finally in sync again and unburdened by marketplace concerns, they've issued fresh goods that remind why they grew so huge in the first place, and also what a dearth of quality heavy rock has remained in their wake. It's crucial that they've returned to help shake up the scene again.

Yet it's also as if they'd never left at all.

The band returns for three shows, Feb. 15-17, at the Wiltern in Los Angeles. Tickets are sold out but available on StubHub and elsewhere, face value $59.50-$85.

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